What does it take to build a developer conference that still feels like it belongs to its community?
Today we record in person in Berlin, with Greg Fawson, CEO of droidcon Global. Greg is going to share what happens behind the scenes of bit tech conferences: how droidcon grew from a 200-person gathering in 2009 into a global conference series, and why balancing attendees, speakers, sponsors, venues, and logistics is a constant juggling act.
We revisit the post-COVID decline of local meetups, a New York venue whose jet-fuel-powered air conditioning turned into a wind tunnel 🍃, and the ways Android’s evolution changed conference agendas. Greg also describes how AI is affecting talk submissions, session selection, company travel budgets, and the value of meeting other developers in person.
Finally, we look ahead to next.app DevCon, which brings Android, Flutter, iOS, React Native, mobile security, XR, mobile games, and agentic coding together while preserving dedicated spaces for each community.
Enjoy the show 👨🍳
Show Notes
- 00.00 Intro
- 01.09 Episode Start
- 01.38 The hardest part of building a developer conference
- 04.59 How droidcon started
- 08.58 droidcon today
- 12.02 COVID’s impact on developer communities
- 15.07 Conference mistakes and the New York wind tunnel
- 21.52 How droidcon and Android changed
- 25.46 How AI is changing conference talks
- 28.22 Reviewing AI-generated talk submissions
- 31.58 AI, ticket sales, and the value of meeting in person
- 38.38 Building next.app DevCon
- 44.15 Cross-pollination across mobile communities
- 50.05 Advice for new conference organizers
- 52.16 Where to find Greg online
- 53.06 Closing
Resources
Hosts:
- @cortinico on GitHub
- @cortinico on X
- @prof18 on GitHub
- @marcoGomier on X
- @paolorotolo on GitHub
- @paolorotolo on X